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Radionuclide measurements along with exhalation study in subsoil of southeast Haryana, India

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Abstract

A comprehensive gamma-ray spectrometry study was conducted to determine thorium, uranium and potassium elemental concentrations in soil samples in the southeast region of Haryana. The collected soil samples were air-dried, sieved through a fine mesh, sealed in 300-ml plastic container and analyzed in the laboratory for their gamma radioactivity using NaI(Tl) gamma spectrometer. From measured gamma-ray spectra, activity concentration was observed for 238U (1.6 ± 0.32–23.3 ± 7.7 Bq kg−1), 232Th (21.9 ± 5.4–157.2 ± 6.5 Bq kg−1) and 40K (228 ± 14–389 ± 16 Bq kg−1). The annual effective dose and absorbed dose rates have been calculated with different fractional utilization of building material in dwellings. Same samples have been analyzed for radon mass and thoron surface exhalation study using scintillation radon and scintillation thoron monitor to find out the correlation between the various radionuclides present in the vicinity, and the results found in good agreement with the observed elemental activity in the exhalation study.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge Guru Nanak Dev University for providing instrumentation assistance and laboratory facilities to perform experiments without which this work would not be possible. We also thank Pradyumna Lenka of BARC (Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) for fruitful discussion. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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  1. Department of Physics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjab, 143005, India

    Prabhjot Singh, Parminder Singh, Komal Saini & B. S. Bajwa

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  1. Prabhjot Singh
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  2. Parminder Singh
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  3. Komal Saini
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  4. B. S. Bajwa
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Correspondence to Prabhjot Singh.

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Singh, P., Singh, P., Saini, K. et al. Radionuclide measurements along with exhalation study in subsoil of southeast Haryana, India. Environ Earth Sci 76, 332 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6650-5

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